Get all your news in one place.
100's of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
Sport
Theo Squires

'It should have been the winning goal' - Steven Gerrard trademark goal Brendan Rodgers loved and marked end of era at Liverpool

If you were to pick your favourite Steven Gerrard goal, plenty of contenders would come to mind.

Sure, his lopping header against AC Milan in Istanbul will be a clear favourite to many, but the chances are the majority of others will have one thing in common.

Long-range pile-drivers.

It was the midfielder’s trademark throughout his career at Anfield, picking up the ball outside of the box and thundering it home into the corner from distance.

Boasting 186 goals for his boyhood club, all the obvious screamers come flooding back.

READ MORE:

Manchester United 2001. Olympiacos 2004. Middlesbrough 2005. West Ham United 2006. Marseille 2008. I could go on.

But while his career is littered with such efforts, they were somewhat lacking from the latter years of his career following injury trouble and a change of role.

Yes, the goals kept coming as his final two seasons at Anfield saw Gerrard enjoy his fourth and fifth most prolific seasons.

But from the 27 goals scored across the 2013/14 and 2014/15 seasons, 16 were from the penalty spot with the rest mainly made up of free-kicks or close-range efforts from corners.

As such, it means his final ‘trademark strike’ came against Man City at the Etihad in February 2013, long before he’d even considered the possibility of leaving Liverpool, when he still had 30 goals and 94 matches to come before his 710th and final Reds appearance.

Bringing a weak Gael Clichy clearance down on his chest, he let the ball bounce before fizzing an unstoppable half-volley beyond Joe Hart into the bottom corner from 25-yards.

A goal worthy of winning any game, but unfortunately this time it came in a 2-2 draw with Sergio Aguero levelling the scores late on minutes later following a Pepe Reina error.

Of course a memorable strike, and one that will no doubt repeatedly be aired in the build up to Liverpool’s clash with Man City on Sunday, it was one barely worth a second thought at the time.

Sure, a fabulous strike but nothing Reds fans hadn’t seen countless times before from their talismanic captain and expected to see numerous times again.

“It's a difficult skill, that, because the ball is coming out at height,” manager Brendan Rodgers said at the time.

“He must be 30-odd yards out. He's taken a touch and to beat someone of Joe Hart's calibre, because he's a top, top keeper.

“One of the best keepers in the world for me. To beat him with a shot like that with power and dip was fantastic. It should have been the winning goal.”

The final Steven Gerrard pile-driver, it’s just a shame it didn’t prove to be the winning goal.

Such is the regularity the midfielder produced such moments, perhaps it almost taken for granted that he’d remain around to pull such a strike out of the hat when Liverpool needed him most.

Instead, he was reinvented as a deep-lying playmaker as age caught up with him with this City sign signalling the end of 'Peak Gerrard' and his domineering, all-conquering box-to-box displays.

But now, looking back in hindsight, it is a fitting inclusion in the most jaw-dropping of goal compilations and one that should be cherished that little bit more.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100's of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.